Nimal Senanayake

Nimal Senanayake
NationalitySri Lankan
Occupation(s)Professor of Medicine, Consultant Neurologist, Medical Researcher, Author, Film and Television Scriptwriter
TitleProfessor

Professor Nimal Senanayake is a Sri Lankan neurologist, physician, author, film and television scriptwriter and academic.

Education

Senanayake was educated at the University of Peradeniya.[1] He trained at the Professorial medical unit at General Hospital Colombo, working alongside HHR Samarasinghe and Kumaradasa Rajasuriya. After training in the UK and obtaining his MRCP he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Medicine. He was subsequently promoted to Professor of Medicine and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Peradeniya.[2]

Professional career

Senanayake has served as Chairman of Board of Study in Medicine at the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association[3] and President of the Kandy Society of Medicine.[4] He mentored number of leading clinician sientists to the world with one of the most notable being Prof Tissa Wijeratne[, Chair, Public Awarenss and Advocacy, Tissa Wijeratne]World Federation of Neurology during his early years as a neurology and internal medicine trainee from 1996–1999.

Contributions to Research

Senanayake is best known for his work on the neurotoxicity of pesticides and particularly organophosphorous compounds but has published extensively where he is regarded to have coined the term "Intermediate Syndrome", a clinical phase of Organophosphate poisoning.[5] and is an authority on epilepsy and other neurological disorders. He currently leads with an Australian colleague[6] a Wellcome Trust funded initiative to reduce deaths from pesticides.[7]

Literary and Artistic contributions

Senanayake is an author of non medical books and a scriptwriter as well as a scientific researcher, and has scripted several television dramas and documentaries shown on national television. One of the famous teledrama is "Ella langa walawwa" that was initially broadcast on 1988. The work has a strong bias towards medical issues such as psychoanalysis and living with epilepsy but draws on adaptations of work by Maupassant and Wilkie Collins.,[8][9] He is also a vocalist, and has performed at several venues.

Honours and awards

He has received awards for contributions to research (SLMA Gold Medal Oration,[10] Kandy Society of Medicine Gold Medal Oration,[11] Senaka Bibile Gold Medal Oration,[12] Kumaradasa Rajasuriya Gold Medal[13]) and scriptwriting.[14] He was awarded a DSc by the university in recognition of his achievements in the field of Toxicology and Neurology.[15] He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

References

  1. ^ "Inauguration ceremony" (PDF). www.pemsaa.org. Retrieved 15 August 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ "List of Deans". www.med.pdn.ac.lk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Presidents of the Sri Lanka Medical Association". www.slma.lk. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  4. ^ "1) Past Presidents". kandysocmed.tripod.com. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  5. ^ http://medind.nic.in/jal/t05/i1/jalt05i1p28.pdf Archived 30 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ "ANU projects to cut pesticide deaths..." info.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  7. ^ "Combating pesticide poisoning in South Asia ;Sri Lankan and Australian researchers are teaming up to tackle pesticide poisoning". www.wellcome.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Short Bursts of Psychoanalysis". www.island.lk. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  9. ^ "'Sathkulu Pawwa' Monday, 10 January 2011, tele drama launched". www.dailymirror.lk. Archived from the original on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  10. ^ "SLMA Oration". www.slma.lk. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  11. ^ "4) Kandy Society of Medicine Orations". www.kandysocmed.tripod.com. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  12. ^ "3) Senake Bibile Memorial Oration". www.slma.lk. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  13. ^ "Late Prof. K. Rajasuriya's bold experiment". Dailynews. 30 May 2003. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  14. ^ "'Sumathi Awards 2010'". www.sumathiawards.lk. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  15. ^ "Peradeniya University Medical Faculty". www.dailynews.lk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2011.